Enamel Caries Produced by Chemical Model Similar to ICDAS Protocol

Objectives: Some biomaterials has been developed like a new therapeutic approach for large caries lesions, even cavitated or eroded; indicating the necessary for studies to produce in vitro and characterize this kind of substrate. Purpose: Set the time to produce artificial carious lesions similar to those ICDAS codes 1, 2 and 3 in bovine enamel using static chemical model; and characterize them assessing lesion depth (LD) through Transversal Microradiography (TMR) and Polarized Light Optical Microscopy (PLM).
Methods: Methods: Forty two bovine enamel blocks were immersed in acetate buffer solution, 50% saturated in hydroxyapatite, for 24 hours, 10 days and 115 days at 37^o C, respectively for Groups (ICDAS) 1, 2 and 3. Acidic solutions were replaced after 60 days, only to Group 3. After production of artificial caries lesions, the specimens were serially sectioned longitudinally and polished; resulting in slices of 100 ± 20 µm thickness, which were evaluated on both TMR and PLM. The lesion depth data obtained was subjected to paired t-test (p <0.05).
Results: Results: the TMR and PLM analyses identified the presence of subsurface caries lesions only in Group 1. For Groups 2 and 3 was found erosion and loss of surface structure. PLM and TMR identified greater depths of demineralization and cavitation damage to Code 3, compared to Code 2. Means lesion depth was: Group 1: 40.1 and 50.0 µm; Group 2: 213.9 and 218.3 µm; and Group 3: 347.3 and 348.4 µm for MLP and TMR analysis, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found between the results obtained by the two analyses; and the higher the ICDAS code the greater the depth of the lesions.
Conclusions: Conclusion: the static chemical model is a reasonably method that allows the production of enamel caries lesions similar to those seen clinically by ICDAS II protocol.